Inside Constructive: Business Development and Marketing

Welcome to our Inside Constructive series! We talk with Constructive team members across our teams and offices to get to know the people inside the company and learn about their journey to working at Constructive.

Today we’re chatting with our Business Development and Marketing department team: Steph Schumer and Adrianne Barba.

What was your journey to working at Constructive?

Steph: I started at Constructive at the beginning of 2020 and was the first real hire in relation to Client Services, which really started to define how we want to operate and the creation of the Client Success Manager team that is embedded into the business today.

With many years working at home building companies, I understood the most common frustrations, I knew the business processes, the general lingo and the industry as a whole which meant I had genuine empathy for our clients because I’ve walked in their shoes.

At first, I found it a huge adjustment to come from the busy hustle and bustle of a volume builder to a small business in tech! I missed walking through different departments and being a go-to person for all things. But I soon found the opportunity to embed new processes into Constructive, discuss and implement improvements to our product and my approach was so much easier to apply given the smaller structure — plus, I was given the space and trust to do what I do best.

As well as customer service, I’ve always been technically minded with a focus on process and system improvements. I wholeheartedly believe Constructive can deliver this, and more, for our client base. So, with my background and experience, it made total sense to move into a Business Development role, providing product demos and advising large home builders on how Constructive can improve their business processes and customer experience.

Mix all of that with a love of efficiency and finding better ways to do things and working at Constructive really has been a great fit for me!

Adrianne: I joined the team in 2021. Constructive appealed to me as a fast-growing software company with a heart in creating excellent customer experiences.

Coming from a background of consulting through my own digital design business for over a decade meant working with a bunch of different brands, so I was excited to fully focus on one company. I was inspired by the idea of figuring out how to take what I’d learned from my past projects — in writing, graphic design, digital growth marketing and digital strategy — and bring it into my work for Constructive, a thought leader in the digital customer experience space for home building companies.

What might be a typical day for you at Constructive?

Steph: I’ll usually start by following up on my leads before heading to our daily team stand-up meeting. This is a quick, but important part of the day for me! Being in Business Development/Sales means I’m often working alone, so I thoroughly enjoy hearing from the rest of the team in relation to what they are working on for the day and sharing who I am working with to bring into the implementation pipeline.

From there, I conduct several sales demos per week. I chat with different builders about their requirements and pain points and advise how they can utilise our product to help. I also work alongside the Development team to launch our new products (such as Internal 3D and our up-and-coming Maintenance module), which is exciting as it combines my love of task-driven work with solution building.

Mondays are usually set aside for marketing priorities and Wednesdays are sales meetings, but it’s all flexible.

Adrianne: I’m grateful I’ve been supported to create some structure, with flexibility and freedom within that schedule. I’ll usually start the day by checking emails, messages, my calendar and reviewing my previous day’s projects before grabbing a coffee and posting on our socials.

I’ll then check in quickly with the Sales team before joining the whole gang for our daily stand-up where we run through our goals for the day and support each other through any hurdles that might come up. It’s awesome to have this awareness of what everyone is working on — it avoids things slipping through the cracks and gives us all a greater sense of collective purpose. Plus, it’s a great way to keep in touch with our colleagues on the other side of the country.

Being a content writer, I spend most of my day… writing content! On any given day this could be a blog post, writing up a customer story, producing emails for drip sequences or campaigns, ads, video scripts, product launches, newsletters or release notes. If something needs words, it’s coming across my desk.

There’s usually a bit of design in there, too: illustrating a blog post, editing screenshots to demonstrate products, social media posts, infographics, short videos or materials for events.

I enjoy the strategic part of my role, too. I’m regularly researching articles, interviewing staff and customers, connecting with integration partners to produce co-branded content, creating and editing customer journey maps, marketing plans, customer personas and reviewing email sequences and templates, with everything centred around retention and growth.

Can you share a moment of your time at Constructive that you’re proud of?

Steph: It was exciting to be a part of the productisation of our Internal 3D product. I was able to take the concept work produced by the Development team and shape it into a fully-functional demo before working one-on-one with builders to get this world-first technology operational within their businesses.

This was an interesting journey for me and something I was able to sink my teeth into. I developed a clear vision around onboarding future builders with this product and I could funnel direct feedback to our Dev team around the development direction for future updates.

Adrianne: Strategising, designing, illustrating and writing what you’re reading right now — our Customer Experience blog, Building Insights. We were looking for ways of communicating and sharing tips and advice from our Client Success team who hold vast experience in both the building industry and in implementing and managing Constructive. It was cool to pitch the idea and wireframes, a rough content outline, colour palette and an illustration style directly to our CEO, James, be given the go-ahead and have it up and running within a month. You can really take ownership of the direction of your role here!

I’m also really proud of the collaborative work we’ve done as a team to pool our knowledge to create some solid customer journeys and personas so we can deliver clearer, and more consistent, communications to the right people at the right time and hold empathy for the challenges our clients face in their day-to-day while building homes for their customers.

My very first project at Constructive was awesome, too: helping our Data Engineer, Nigel, launch our Intelligence Analytics product — the powerful, data-driven reporting he created to help builders analyse activity and trends in selections and upgrades.

In what ways do you feel a connection with teammates?

Adrianne: My main function is to support Business Development – attracting and retaining clients, so I’m in constant contact with Steph, our Business Development Manager, and James, our CEO, to make sure what I’m producing is helping them connect with our customers and communicating how we can help.

Other than Business Development and Operations, I’m lucky in that I get to connect with all the team in my role: the Development team through preparing release notes and product launches, our Client Success Managers through requesting subject matter expertise for content production and our Technical team who help me with data and statistics. I even get to talk with clients from time to time when I’m requesting testimonials or interviewing for customer stories.

Steph: I work closely with our Marketing department to ensure the communications we’re preparing are lined up and ready to go — and in line with how we want to present ourselves in the market. We try and commit to having at least a few days in the office together each week to have face-to-face collaboration and a sense of being a team, but it’s flexible if things come up.

I have constant communication with all the Client Success Managers on existing and new clients to ensure all information is freely passed back and forth — there are no silos between departments. Coming from an operational background, I take great pride in my sales comments and work being passed over thoroughly and correctly!

Do you find your work hours flexible around your life and family at Constructive?

Steph: I’ve been so lucky since joining the Constructive team. We have a flexible, hybrid working environment where I can still feel connected to my teammates, while juggling the other side of family life!

It’s nice to work somewhere that is so aligned with my values. I’ve always been adamant that if you get your work done in the time you have available, then flexibility should be a given.

Adrianne: Yep, you’re treated like an adult here! Adjustable start/finish times work great for school drop-offs and pick-ups.

As a Mum with a young kid, I often feel pulled in many directions, but from day one I’ve been encouraged to bring my entire self to work — it’s so important to feel comfortable to do that in a workplace as it brings incredible benefits to your sense of self and the balance of your life.

I love coming into our coworking office as it’s such a beautiful space, but it’s great knowing if I need, or want, to work from home some of the time, it’s an option.